lcionline Chapter 208 Ambush on Zheng Family Fleet
Chapter 208 Ambush on Zheng Family Fleet
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The clearing of hidden land and the unified collection of grain taxes were successfully implemented throughout the county. Because a large number of "falsely registered" hidden lands were discovered, the base amount of grain to be collected was far greater than the number of households registered. The task of collecting 8,000 shi of grain was easily completed. However, the Qiongzhou camp itself hoarded more than 23,000 shi of grain, which shows how rampant the evasion of grain taxes had become among the people.
"Based on the official price of one tael per shi, even if we pay another eight thousand taels of Liaodong tax, we'll still make a profit," Li Fu quickly calculated and reported to Liu Ye. Judging from the market conditions in Lingao, if the unified grain tax system were extended to Danzhou and Chengmai in the future, stockpiling fifty to sixty thousand shi of grain annually wouldn't be a problem.
Liu Ye nodded. Because the Qiongzhou Camp only accepted grain, exempting them from silver payments and corvée labor, the Liaodong military pay had to be advanced by themselves, which seemed somewhat uneconomical. However, in the long run, it was absolutely necessary. With the end of the Ming Dynasty approaching chaos, grain was of paramount importance; in times of war and turmoil, silver couldn't feed them. Especially for the Qiongzhou Camp, which harbored ambitions of dominating the world, grain was far more important than silver. Only with grain could they accommodate a larger population and support a larger army.
However, this only increased the financial pressure. Currently, the only profitable businesses under the Qiongzhou Trading Company are the Wanhualou (a type of brothel) and liquor; the rest are factories that only generate revenue and never generate income, especially the navy, which is a major money drain. The cost of a Wuyi-class warship alone is more than 10,000 taels of silver, and the cost of a thousand-ton warship under construction is nearly 30,000 taels, which is roughly the total annual tax revenue of two Lingao counties.
If only maritime trade could be established, the funding problem would be easily solved. Unfortunately, the route to Japan inevitably involves Zheng Zhilong, the Dutch, and Liu Xiang, and the Dutch and Spanish are also entrenched in Southeast Asia. Without removing these obstacles, maritime trade cannot proceed smoothly.
"It seems I still need to get rid of Liu Xiang, Zheng Zhilong, and the like as soon as possible," Liu Ye thought to himself.
However, the most important thing right now is to get the tax collection under control. Liu Ye called Qian Youyu over and instructed him, "Draft a letter for me and send it to Chengmai and Danzhou respectively. Tell Liu Zezhong and Wei Bocheng to come to Laigao to discuss the tax matters."
Qian Youyu was short of money. Normally, it would be absurd for a military commander to summon two county magistrates to discuss matters, but in Qiongzhou, it was perfectly normal. He composed himself and immediately wrote two letters, the language of which was much more polite than Liu Ye's, inviting the two men to come and discuss important tax matters.
No matter how polite the words were, they couldn't hide the fact that the local officials were humiliated by the military officers. However, this did at least allow them to retain some face.
A few days later, Liu Zezhong and Wei Bocheng arrived in Lingao one after the other.
Liu Ye didn't stand on ceremony and went straight to the point: "I invited you two here today to discuss the matter of taxes. As you may have heard, I have obtained the prefect's approval to take charge of the taxes of the three counties. The regular grain and Liaodong tax in Lingao have been basically collected, and the eight thousand shi of grain and eight thousand taels of Liaodong tax will be shipped soon. Now it depends on Danzhou and Chengmai."
After the fall of the county town, Liu Zezhong was no longer as spirited as before. Upon hearing this, he nodded repeatedly: "General, your actions are a meritorious deed for the present and a benefit for future generations. It not only collects sufficient taxes for the court but also saves us the hardship of collecting grain. I wholeheartedly support it."
Wei Bocheng sighed inwardly. He had also heard about what happened in Chengmai. No one could withstand the Qiongzhou Camp's "those who obey me prosper, those who oppose me perish" attitude. Liu Zezhong's initial arrogance followed by obsequiousness was also a predicament. He didn't want to offend Xia Tiannan in the first place, and since Liu Zezhong had made such a statement, he had nothing to say. He immediately expressed his support for the Qiongzhou Camp's move to monopolize tax collection.
"Very good. With the support of you two gentlemen, I believe the tax collection in Chengmai and Danzhou counties will proceed smoothly. To be frank, in the past, levying grain according to the household registers was not only difficult to collect, but the lion's share also went to those cunning clerks and grain clerks, leaving the county government with less than one-tenth. Based on the experience of Lingao this time, we not only bypassed those household register clerks, but also uncovered a large number of illegally registered hidden fields, making the completion of summer taxes and autumn grain taxes a piece of cake..."
Although the two secretly resented the Qiongzhou Camp for bullying scholars with military force, these words resonated with them. Every year, the magistrate of a county had to rack his brains over summer taxes and autumn grain, and in the end, he had to bow down to those cunning petty officials and local tyrants in order to complete his tasks.
"The villains who are responsible for the land survey and the collection of taxes from officials and gentry will be handled by my Qiongzhou camp. You two can just stand by and watch. Once the taxes are collected, your performance evaluation will be better."
The two men perked up at this. They understood the benefits of the land survey and the unified tax collection by officials and gentry, but local power was deeply entrenched, and the county magistrate, being an outsider, was powerless to act. Now that Liu Ye had clearly stated they would play the villains and share the spoils, there was no risk for them. They could smoothly complete their summer and autumn grain tax tasks, and a top performance rating was guaranteed. From this perspective, the Qiongzhou camp wasn't so terrible after all.
The world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for gain. Although the two men lost face, they gained something substantial, so they no longer cared about the domineering attitude and arrogance of the Qiongzhou camp. Wei Bocheng sincerely said, "We have benefited greatly from General's actions and have no way to thank you. If you need our services in the future, I will gladly serve you."
Liu Zezhong did not dare to lag behind and said, "What Magistrate Wei said is very true. If I have offended you in the past, I hope you will forgive me."
Liu Ye waved his hand and said, "There's no need to dwell on the past. Lingao, Chengmai, and Danzhou are closely connected. I hope you two will continue to support Qiongzhou Camp and share in its prosperity."
Officials naturally wouldn't reject wealth and honor, and upon hearing this, the two county magistrates beamed with joy, forgetting their previous displeasure.
At this moment, a thousand miles away in the harbor of Zeelandia, pirates shouted and thronged, carrying baskets of swords, guns, and ammunition from the shore onto their ships. The sails were already raised, the ships appearing fully prepared for departure, and the captains of each vessel were counting and summoning their men.
"Li Erleng, you bastard, hurry up and get the men on the boat. If you mess up the boss's business, I'll chop off your head..."
"Zhang the Pockmarked, you son of a bitch, what kind of time is this to still be clinging to your wife? Grab your weapons and let's go..."
……
Wang Qinian followed closely behind Liang Dong and asked in a low voice, "Are they going to take action against the Zheng family?"
Liang Dong nodded: "The big boss got word that Zheng's fourth son is coming back from Japan with a lot of silver and Japanese goods. We're going to pull off a big heist against him."
Wang Qinian was puzzled: "The sea is vast, how did Liu Xiang find the Zheng family's fleet?"
"The head of the family has spies planted in the Zheng family, so he naturally has accurate information. The fleet will pass through Kinmen, so we will ambush them outside Kinmen."
"Isn't Kinmen the territory of the Zheng family?"
Liang Dong chuckled: "This is called 'the darkest place under the lamp.' Everyone thinks they're safe once they're on their own turf. We'll take them by surprise and catch them off guard. By the time Kinmen Island realizes what's happening, we'll have already run away."